Senior Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's electoral list won the May polls. The lists headed by former transport minister and the current head of the country’s Hashd al-Sha’abi defense force, Hadi al-Ameri, and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi came second and third.

Abadi, however, has ordered the creation of a high-powered commission to look into complaints of irregularities by political parties and lawmakers.

Last month, a storage site housing ballot boxes from the parliamentary elections in the capital Baghdad caught fire ahead of a recount, which officials said was an act of arson.

Abadi said the torching of the storage site for ballot boxes was part of a plot to damage Iraq's democratic process.

“Burning election warehouses … is a plot to harm the nation and its democracy. We will take all necessary measures and strike with an iron fist all who undermine the security of the nation and its citizens,” he said.